I wanted to debug an Android app that uses HTTPS requests with a JSON API. Thanks to this article I’ve been able to use my Windows 10 computer to get all the network from my Android phone thru my local network and decode the HTTPS requests !

I was trying to update my Sony Xperia Z3 Compact from Android 5.0.2 (rooted) to Android 5.1.1, and everything worked well except that I got this issue : mount: Operation not permitted when I was trying to put in write mode the system folder.

Also I tried SDFix and I got the error “Update failed, platform.xml file could not be updated”.

When I tried “ES Explorer”, with Root Mode, I had SuperSU asking for root permission, but then “ES Explorer” said my system is not rooted.

After hours of digging I finally found I had to use that file discovered in that XDA thread. Just download it, unzip, then launch the install.bat

I’ve had a recent issue with my Android 4.4 phone causing a constant network activity and draining my battery like crazy. After searching over Internet I found that could be due to one of my devices on my local network (because of a packet broadcast). I disconnected everything, but no luck. Then I installed an app from the store to find which apps are using my battery, but it states it was Android System…

Some forum posts said that could be some ICMP traffic due to the phone trying to reach the Google servers, or something similar.

Finally I installed several applications to monitor my phone. The best one was “Network Log” that is able to show the trafic received/sent for each application. I found that one of my app might be the issue: I uninstalled it and the trafic stopped!

So I recommend this app to find out which app could be the reason of the bad network activity.

Install Android SDK

Go to the Android SDK page and install the package. Make sure you install the Google USB Drivers also after the installation is complete.

Here I have installed the SDK into D:\ANDROID\android-sdk

Once it’s done you want to test if your device is recognized by your computer. Switch it on and plug in it. Then open a Windows console (Windows key + R, then type “cmd”) and go to your installation directory. Then go to the “platform-tools” directory. It will be something like that: > cd D:\ANDROID\android-sdk\platform-tools
You should see the “adb.exe” file. You can call it with the command adb.exe devices

If it returns the message “< Waiting for devices >”, then it means you need to do some tricks :

On your Folio, go to the Settings > Applications > USB Debug : make sure this is checked

On your computer, find the file called android_winusb.inf (in my case it’s located here: D:\ANDROID\android-sdk\extras\google\usb_driver), and open it with a text editor. We now need to copy/paste the three lines below at the end of the [Google.NTx86] part and at the end of the [Google.NTamd64] part :

Save the file and close it. Now type the command echo 0x955 > "%USERPROFILE%\.android\adb_usb.ini" into the console.

Now unplug/replug your Folio and click right on the Computer icon that you have on your desktop or into the Windows explorer, and choose “Manage”. From there you can manage the devices and under “Other devices” you should see the “NVIDIA Tegra2” :Credits – http://philflash.inway.fr/flex/folio100/usb_tegra2.html

Click right on it and pick “Update the driver” and choose the “Locate it on my computer” option. For the path it will be D:\ANDROID\android-sdk\extras\google\usb_driver in my case

You’ll probably have a warning message, but say yes, that you want it to be installed

When it’s done you should now see “Android Composite ADB Interface” instead of “NVIDIA Tegra 2”

In the Windows console you can now type the below commands (in the “platform-tools” directory) :

adb kill-server
adb start-server
adb devices

Your Folio must now appear in the list of devices

Bootload

First, rename the ROM downloaded as “update.zip” and copy it to your SDCard (at the root dir). (In the mean time copy also the Google Apps zip file)

We’re going to install the recovery :

Copy the cwm-recovery-5.5.0.4.img file you’ve downloaded into the “platform-tools” folder.

Switch off your Folio (keep it plugged to your computer).

Switch it on, and when it vibrates then press three times the Power button, then the Volume UP button : you’ll see a message saying it’s in fastboot mode.

Press several seconds the Power button to turn it off, then turn it on. When the first messages appear on the screen press the Power button and the Volume UP button. You’ll see some text.

Make sure to go to the Update System mode (it should be : Volume UP + Volume Down + Volume Up), and you’ll have the Recovery menu. From here I recommend to do a backup (“backup and restore > backup to internal sdcard”) (the Power button permits to validate the choices, and the Volume to go up and down)

Install the new ROM

After the backup you can do a “wipe data/factory reset”. Then install the ROM in choosing the “Install zip from SDCard” option.

At the end of the process the Folio will say “Install from sdcard complete.”

It’s now time to reboot to use CM9 🙂

Install Google Apps

Reboot your Folio. When it vibrates, press the Power button and the Volume UP in the same time. Then go to the System Update (Volume Up + Down + Up), and install the GAPPS file.